Louie the Tricycle Guy

This was fantastic. Brian is going to go places fast if he keeps making films like this.

This guy is a fixture - it's nice to get some background on him. We measure the seasons by different things around town like duckboats coming and going and Romeo and Juliet going back in the Public Garden. Another sure sign that Spring is officially here is the first time we see (or hear) Louie - never knew his name. I lost the under/over this year - I thought before April 15 and my wife said after - Louie passed us on the street on April 17 for the first time in 2009. Spring has Sprung - GO LOUIE! Glad to see you back.

I was just talking about this guy today! It's wonderful to learn more about him. It's always a nice moment when I hear him coming down the street.

This film is fantastic. Hate to sound like an oldster but I have been working in town since high school. I remember Louie from at least 1987 charging across the bridge in the Public Garden while I worked on the Swan Boats. He is as much a true Boston character as Mr. Butch, Henry Lee, and others.

So two years ago I was lying down on the grass in the Public Gardens talking with a friend (you are not supposed to lay down on the grass in the Public Gardens) when along comes Louie.

When he finally gets near us he stops his trike and yells at us to get off the grass. We were kind of stunned, and just kept talking hoping he'd just move on and leave us alone, but Louie was not to be deterred. He kept yelling, in his way, "No one on the grass, no one on the grass!" Finally we just got up and left and I realized, in somewhat chagrined retrospect, that there is also no riding bicycles on sidewalks, especially in the Public Gardens.

But then, I don't think anyone will ever give him a problem about riding his tricycle around because 1.) It's not a bicycle, and most of the signs and icons painted around sidewalks are specific to bicycles (OK, it's a technicality, but I think he gets off on that count) and 2.) It's Louie. He gives so much warning as to his approach that there's no way he could possibly be considered unsafe by anyone.

It is great that people take the time to be patient and learn about another human being. Louie is obviously harmless and just trying to be in the community. He seems to be a happy man.